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In this series so far we have looked at what the early years of the life of Joshua can show us about the early years of Jesus’ life and we have looked at what the turning point in Joshua’s life when he took over command of the Children of Israel can show us about a similiar turning point in Jesus’ life. This Sunday, in the final part of the series, we will look at what Joshua’s conquest of the land of Canaan can show us about what Jesus was fighting against and fighting for during His three years of active ministry.

Joshua was the military commander of the people of Israel, who led them across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, where he violently claimed the land in the name of Jehovah his God. Jesus was a spiritual leader, who came to the Jordan River to be baptized and begin His ministry of love and repentance. Yet these two stories, so different on the surface, are the same story. This Sunday we will explore what Joshua crossing the Jordan can tell us about Jesus and His ministry.

People have been drawing parallels between the stories of Joshua and Jesus for a long time (which makes sense considering that Jesus is the Greek version of name Joshua). But the teachings of the New Church indicate that the connections between the stories go much deeper than a shared name and some intriguing similarities. Every detail of the story can be read as a way for us to get a deeper understanding of the Lord’s experience while He was on earth. This Sunday we will explore the early stories of Joshua, before he became the leader of the Children of Israel, and what those stories can show us about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do physical things relate to spiritual things? What is the connection between our body and our spirit? How do we make sense of the confusing physical imagery in the Bible, a book that is supposed to be about spiritual things? New Church teachings explain these things using a fascinating concept called correspondence. This Sunday we will explore this concept and how it can change how we look at everything in the Bible and the world around us.

Fear and anxiety are inevitable in life. Nor is that a bad thing. Fear of failure motivates us to succeed, anxiety brings our attention to problems that we need to overcome. But when we are crippled by these things, and our choices are limited by our fears, we cannot grow the way we would want. The Lord tells us what we can do then: seek first the kingdom of God. If we manage to get our priorities right, then our anxieties, although still present, will be longer control us.

Dreams play an important role in many stories of the Word. Joseph, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and others had dreams sent by the Lord that revealed the His will to them. Today we rarely put much importance on dreams. And yet they remain a universal experience. Is there a way that dreams still connect us to the Lord and the spiritual world? This Sunday we will explore what dreams can mean for us today and how they can reflect a spiritual influence on our lives.

In the Gospel of John, after the Lord rises from the dead, He interacts with Peter a few more times and gives him some important final directions. This Sunday we will reflect on what this story can show us about the failure, frustration, and transformation that we’re likely to go through as we try to follow the Lord.

Jesus mission in life was both incomprehensibly massive and truly simple: to save all people, for all time, from the threat of hell. Throughout His life He accomplished this mission by fighting against and overcoming every last evil impulse that hell could throw at Him. By the end of His life, on the cross, He had so completely overcome hell that nothing of it remained in Him. On Easter Sunday we celebrate this victory because of what it means for us today: just as Jesus overcame hell in His own life, He can overcome every bit of hell that shows up in ours.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday and the last Sunday of our Practicing Forgiveness programme. Throughout these past few weeks we’ve talked about the difference that forgiveness can make – in an individual’s life and in society in general. We understand the before picture and we like the after picture but how do we get from one to the other? This Sunday we’ll try to understand more of what comes in between in the process of being transformed by forgiveness.